World Civilization: When African were seized against their will, brought to the new world, and enslaved, it has been said that their cultural heritage was lost during the transition from African to African American. Analyze the validity of this statement.

br World Civilization World Civilization Without question , the institution of American slavery resulted in the loss of cultural identity for those slaves brought against their will to America such suppression and eventual eradication of African identity was intentionally wrought upon the slaves by their owners who sought to strip them of any individual identification and regarded them as less than human . The ambition of the slave-owner was to exploit his or her slaves for personal gratification or enrichment "slaves were instruments to be employed for the master 's enrichment they must be

br firmly disciplined , and if a number of slaves died untimely deaths while laboring to increase the master 's profits , that was the slaves ' own bad luck (Dusinberre , 1996 ,

. 49

Because the African slaves were regarded as less than human identification with their native African culture was not only discouraged , but grounds for harsh punishment "Callousness , not paternalist benevolence , was the hallmark of many American masters relation to their slaves (Dusinberre , 1996 ,

. 48 ) The resulting suppression of native African cultures for so many millions of captives caused what social and cultural historians refer to as a "cultural trauma " and consequent loss of cultural identity for African Americans which has persisted into contemporary times

A cultural trauma is an analogy for the damage inflicted on a culture when it has been shattered by an invasive historical force such as slavery "There is a difference between trauma as it affects individuals and as a cultural process . As cultural process , trauma is mediated through various forms of representation and linked to the reformation of collective identity and the reworking of collective memory " This means that not only was the slaves ' living connection with their indigenous culture completely destroyed , but the collective cultural memory of the African Americans warped by the malevolent damages of slavery "cultural trauma refers to a dramatic loss of identity and meaning , a tear in the social fabric , affecting a group of people that has achieved some degree of cohesion (Eyerman , 2001 ,

. 2

This kind of cultural schism is both profound and of long duration African Americans , first subjected to the tyranny of slavery , then cast into the role of "other " after the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery , became a culture without any identity other than that which had been thrust upon them from their former "masters "T he Civil War and the passage of constitutional amendments ending slavery and granting equal protection under the law to all citizens -- newly defined as both white and black -- are thought to have fatally ruptured the logic of slavery (Kawash , 1997 ,

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However , African Americans were cast into an equally prejudicial cultural role in America and this time , the justification for both Northerners and Southerners was that slavery , though evil , had at least allowed for the "humnization " of the African race . This deep-seated racism obstructed any chance for the African Americans in the post Civil War era to geminate a specifically African American culture...